BERLIN: Germany’s Scholz seals deal to end Merkel era

BERLIN: Olaf Scholz will head a
three-party coalition with broad plans for Germany’s transition to a green
economy, under a deal to end 16 years of government led by Angela Merkel.

Almost
two months after his Social Democrat party won federal elections, he will go
into power with the Greens and business-friendly Free Democrats.

Climate
protection forms a big part of the coalition deal.

The parties
aim to phase out coal use by 2030, eight years ahead of schedule.

They will
also seek to use 2% of German territory for wind power and focus on
hydrogen-based energy too. By 2030, the parties want 80% of electricity to be
sourced from renewable energy and 15 million electric cars to be on German
roads.

There are
also plans to legalise the sale of cannabis in licensed premises, with controls
on the quality and distribution of the drug.

Germany
is Europe’s biggest economy, so decisions taken by the new government will have
a big effect on its neighbours.

In a news
conference, Mr Scholz, 63, said “sovereignty of Europe is a cornerstone of
our foreign policy”. He highlighted Germany’s friendship with France and
partnership with the US.

He spoke
of daring to make greater progress in a coalition “on equal terms”.
He also pointed out that the three parties’ wider memberships still had to
approve what has been labelled a “traffic-light” coalition, because
of the parties’ red, yellow and green colours.  

Olaf Scholz has served as vice
chancellor since 2018 but is set to take over from Angela Merkel in the second
week of December

He will
only take over as chancellor from Mrs Merkel after a vote in the Bundestag,
expected between 6 and 9 December.

Mr Scholz
will enter office during a difficult period of the Covid-19 pandemic, with
Germany one of several European countries where infections have skyrocketed to
record levels in recent weeks.

On
Wednesday, he said the coalition would ramp up vaccinations and consider making
jabs compulsory for health staff and other essential worker.

“The
situation is bleak,” Mr Scholz said. “The coronavirus is still not
vanquished.”

‘Biggest challenge of our time’

The
Social Democrats won the 26 September vote, ahead of Mrs Merkel’s Christian
Democrat alliance, which saw its worst-ever election result. The Greens
achieved their best-ever result, under candidate Annalena Baerbock, who spoke
of an ambitious alliance aiming to start a paradigm shift to transform the
economy.

Describing
the climate crisis as the biggest challenge of our time she said: “We can
transform our economy so it becomes climate neutral. We have an agreement where
climate neutrality is a common denominator.”

Ms
Baerbock is expected to become foreign minister in the new government, while
her Greens co-leader Robert Habeck gets the role of vice-chancellor as well as
overseeing energy transition.

The new
finance minister is set to be Christian Lindner, the Free Democrat leader whose
party has a wide following of young voters. “The younger generation has
given us this job to overcome the status quo of recent years,” he said.

What are their plans?

Making
Germany climate neutral by 2045 is a big focus of the deal, entitled “Daring
more progress”. Phasing out coal will take place “ideally” by
2030, and solar energy will become compulsory on the roofs of new commercial
buildings and the general rule for new private homes. The 16 states will have
to provide 2% of their area for wind power. The goal to phase out cars with
internal combustion engines remains the EU’s target of 2035.

Minimum
wages will
rise to €12 (£10) an hour and another 400,000 new apartments will be built
every year, a quarter of which will be social housing, to tackle Germany’s
housing crisis.

The voting
age will be
lowered from 18 to 16, with plans to reform electoral law to bring an end to
ever-increasing numbers of MPs. The new Bundestag has 735 seats. Changing the
voting age for European elections requires a simple parliamentary majority, but
for federal elections it would need two-thirds support.

Immigrants
will be able to apply for German citizenship after five years. They will also be allowed dual
citizenship under the coalition’s plans. This would transform the lives of
millions of immigrants, many of who remain foreign nationals despite having
lived in Germany for decades.

A Covid
crisis team will be
set up at the chancellery to focus on the pandemic. Mr Scholz said vaccination
was the way out of the pandemic and in some care settings involving vulnerable
people it should be made compulsory. Mr Scholz said the coalition had agreed to
invest €1bn in bonuses for health workers.

On
foreign policy, the
parties said they wanted “to raise Europe’s strategic sovereignty”,
which effectively means more independence on energy, security and other
international issues. However, Germany’s relationship with the US and its
membership of the Nato alliance will remain central to its security.

Germany’s
no-new-debt rule was
lifted during the pandemic as more funds were needed to address the crisis. But
by 2023, the coalition says it wants to bring back the debt brake which is
enshrined in Germany’s constitution.

A ban on
doctors
advertising that they carry out abortions will be lifted, to enable public
information to be provided about the method without fear of prosecution.